By Dharisha Bastians
Police curfews were declared in two Kalutara District towns last night, after communal tensions flared in the restive area following a rally held by a hardline Buddhist group in Aluthgama town.
An indefinite police curfew was in place from 6:45 p.m. after a Bodu Bala Sena rally in the tense town of Aluthgama yesterday went predictably south, with clashes erupting when parts of a mob in procession attempted to stone a mosque in the Dhargatown area.
Images of property on fire and thick black smoke spiralling into the skies in Aluthgama emerged last night and orders went out to police across the island to strengthen security for mosques and Muslim prayer centres in their areas. About 1,200 police personnel, including 400 STF, were deployed in Aluthgama to maintain order yesterday.
With the unrest spreading, police also declared curfew in the adjoining Beruwala police division, an area with a large concentration of Muslims in residence.
Early warnings ignored?
A delegation of Muslim organisations met with Western Province DIG Anura Senanayake in Kalutara yesterday to hold discussions about security in the area, the Daily FT learns. Police assured the organisations that they would ensure maximum security in the area.
Deputy Minister of Investment Promotion Faiszer Mustapha, who was in Japan last week, wrote to the Secretary of the Ministry of Law and Order, Maj. Gen. Nanda Mallawararachchi urging him to prevent the Bodu Bala Sena rally from taking place, sources said.
In a letter to IGP N.K. Illangakoon, the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama, Muslim Council of Sri Lanka, the Wakf Board of Sri Lanka, the All Ceylon YMMA and the Colombo Masjid Federation said that “extremist organisations” Bodu Bala Sena and Sinhala Ravaya had organised a rally in Aluthgama to protest against an alleged attack on a Buddhist priest in the area last Thursday.
“This is a dangerous situation that could develop into a major riot, hence we call upon you to take immediate and decisive action to safeguard the lives and property of Muslims in Aluthgama and surrounding areas,” stated the letter to the IGP, that was also copied to DIG Anura Senanayake yesterday.

Police Spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana said that unrest had been reported in Beruwala and that curfew had been imposed, but refused to confirm any attacks. The Bodu Bala Sena rally was permitted to go ahead, despite entreaties by Muslim ministers and Muslim civil society groups, who urged authorities to prevent the meeting because tensions had already flared on Thursday following an allegation that several Muslim youth had assaulted a Buddhist monk and his driver in Aluthgama.
Bodu Bala Sena General Secretary Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thero addressing the rally in Aluthgama yesterday, referred to Muslims in derogatory terms and accused sections of the Government of being in collaboration with the Muslim Community. “They keep calling us racist and religious extremists. Yes, we are racists,” he charged as the crowd cheered him on. “This country still has a Sinhala police. A Sinhala army. If a single Sinhalese is touched, that will be the end of all them,” he screamed.
Correspondents in the area said it was not clear which side had started the clashes in Aluthgama, but described the situation as being war-like moments later.
Over 10 shops in the Dhargatown area in Aluthgama were torched, with police and Special Task Force personnel firing tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the mobs, to no avail.
Houses in the Kotapitiya, Meeri Penna and Adhikarigoda areas in Aluthgama were also set on fire, with Muslim residents fleeing their homes to take sanctuary in several mosques in Dhargatown. Some injuries were also reported from Dhargatown, but the reports were unconfirmed at the time of going to press.
Several photographers and videographers filming yesterday’s chaotic scenes were assaulted by the mob, reports said. Several hours after the curfew was imposed, the tension in the area continued.
Eyewitnesses said the STF was deployed in large numbers and helped to restore some calm in the area.
Deputy Minister Faiszer Mustapha, who urged the authorities to prevent the Bodu Bala Sena rally from taking place from Japan (see box), rushed to the Aluthgama area last night.
Muslim families gathered at the Dhargatown Marikkar Street Mosque and several other mosques in the area, as homes came under attack by violent mobs, who continued to move about despite the curfew in force.
Shops came under attack in the Beruwala area at 9 PM, in spite of the police curfew, according to sources in the area. Crowds of people were on the March again in Aluthgama by 9 p.m., with police warning Muslim residents to stay indoors. Fixed line telephones in several areas of Aluthgama also went dead late last night.
Despite the widespread rioting and tension, the Government was yet to release an official statement calling for calm, at the time of going to press.
President tweets for calm from Bolivia
President Mahinda Rajapaksa on a state visit to Bolivia late last night tweeted that the Government would not allow anyone to take the law into their own hands.
“I urge all parties concerned to act in restraint,” President Rajapaksa tweeted on the Aluthgama unrest. He said an investigation will be held for the law to take its course of action and to bring to book those responsible for incidents in Aluthgama.

Extremist group Bodu Bala Sena held a rally in Aluthgama on Sunday. Its leader, Galagodaaththe Gnanasara, questioned the heavy police presence in the area. “This country still has a Sinhalese Police, this country still has a Sinhalese Army. It will be the end of all [Muslims] if a Muslim at least lays a finger on a Sinhalese,” he said.

The Bodu Bala Sena then proceeded to the Dharga Town area by a vehicle convoy. People in the area pelted stones at the convoy, triggering clashes. Several were injured.

Police declared curfew after clashes started, and deployed police and Special Task Force personnel to control the situation. Curfew which was initially held in Aluthgama then extended to the Beruwala police area, and will be in place till further notice, according to the Police Media Spokesman. Police and Special Task Force reinforcement were reportedly brought in from multiple police stations in the region.

Deputy Minster Faizer Mustapha, who played a pivotal role during the previous tensions in Colombo, was trapped inside Naleemia Islamic School, as mob surrounded the premises. Special Task Force was on the ground attempting to secure the Deputy Minister’s safety. (Update: See Reuters report on the minister being trapped)
In a seemingly related incident Harcourts Pharmacy in Dehiwala has been pelted with stones, minor damages to the shop front. No torching as suggested by earlier reports.

BBC Sinhala has published a video that captures the situation in Aluthgama. Curfew is now in force from Aluthgama to Beruwala, unverified reports of clashes continued to emerge.

Editor’s Note: Whilst there is a no media blackout as yet, the amount of information flowing through the newspapers and television channels seem to be limited. We took the picture from BBC Sandeshaya. An earlier version of this story linked to Muslim families finding communal safety. This was subsequently removed due to difficulties in ascertaining the authenticity of the photo.

Minister of Industry and Commerce, Rishad Bathiudeen, yesterday denied all allegations made by Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) over encroachment on the Wilpattu National Park and establishing a Muslim settlement there.
The BBS alleged that Bathiudeen was involved in the resettlement of Muslims in the North, creating an Arab colony and also settling people from outside.

“I have sent a letter of demand to BBS General Secretary, Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera, regarding the false allegations and accusations, basically stating that either he apologizes and retracts his statement and sets the record straight within two weeks or get ready to face the music as I will take legal action in Court to get Rs 500 million as compensation. I’m an internally displaced Muslim myself. These Muslims whom I am resettling and have resettled in the Wilpattu National Park after clearing the jungle and also in the Northern Province are partly my voter base.

There is nothing illegal in building houses as I have acquired permission in a correct manner from the relevant line ministries and this is sanctioned by the government.Muslim representatives in Colombo didn’t do anything when the Fashion Bug warehouse was attacked and when there were tense situations regarding mosques. But I intervened as these issues concerned Muslims. Thus, this is just the climax of a gradual series of attacks on me,” Bathiudeen added.

The Thera, meanwhile, said, “We won’t give him or any of those people a red cent nor will we attend Court. We know the facts that we will bring out in due course.”

The man that Time Magazine dubbed ‘The Face of Buddhist Terror,’ Leader of the 969 Movement in Myanmar, who is notorious for his anti-Islam rhetoric, Ven. Ashin Wirathu Thera, will be arriving in the island on an invitation by the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS).

BBS General Secretary, Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera said, “There is no need for a hullabaloo yet. We will let the relevant people know in due course. We have invited him and he will come and we will have a meeting. That is all. The media does not need to know for how long he will stay here.We will plan it and reveal it at the appropriate time.”
BBS Education and Research Unit Chief Coordinator, Chamila Liyanage, said, “Even though the dates are not confirmed yet, he is definitely coming.

“Buddhist countries in the Asiatic region are facing difficulties and even violencerom the Muslims and the other religions in the region. The best example comes from Thailand, Myanmar and Bangladesh. This is the very reason why Ven. Wirathu decided to start the 969 Movement in Myanmar. We visited Thailand and Myanmar and we will be visiting other countries in East Asia. We will definitely be starting an international network with global reach with likeminded Buddhist civil society institutions, Buddhist scholars and Buddhist activist organizations in these countries. With Ven. Wirathu Thera we will be discussing strategic plans for at least a regional network for the time being, for which we need a concrete plan,” he added.

The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) excoriated Minister of Industry and Commerce, Rishad Bathiudeen, for building separate Muslim zones and villages for the internally displaced by desecrating the sanctity of the Wilpattu National Park.
They allege that he has entered into contracts with Middle Eastern non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The contracts of which though not available on any government website are found on the following websites belonging to Middle Eastern NGOs:

The BBS also queried as to who granted permission for this, and as to why MPs, the Minister of Environment and Renewable Energy Susil Premajayantha and Minister of Construction, Engineering Services, Housing and Common Amenities Wimal Weerawansa were silent on the matter.Post-war, the internally displaced should be given housing regardless of their race, ethnicity or religion. This should be done with a proper plan and by following the correct procedure. First of all, the government should find out where they lived previously and relocate them to their original locations. At a time when green forests are being destroyed, allowing the Wilpattu National Park to be cleared to build houses is an environmental catastrophe. It is because there is no proper housing plan to accommodate, relocate and reinstate the internally displaced has situations like this arisen. When there is so much land for this purpose elsewhere, doing this in Wilpattu and giving permission for it is politically motivated.

Since the dawn of peace, every government bent over to the almighty foreign dollar; we saw this evenduring the post-tsunami period. What should have happened was for everyone to have had a discussion and once trust, cooperation and enhanced social cohesion was developed, only then to relocate. This building of new Muslim villages is the origin of a future problem. When a government minister signs a contract on behalf of the government, how does the money end up with a NGO? Muslim extremists have had talks locally and internationally to engage in an international conspiracy to acquire our coastal belt and this attempt in Puttalam-Mannar is a threat to both national and regional safety and security. This is a problem with government policy,” BBS General Secretary Ven. Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera, BBS Executive Committee Member and Programmes Coordinator Dilantha Withanage and BBS Education and Research Unit Chief Coordinator Chamila Liyanage said in unison. Despite several attempts by Ceylon Today to contact Minister Premajayantha, Minister Weerawansa and Minister Bathiudeen, they were not available for comment.

While condemning a report submitted to the UNHRC on alleged religious disharmony in the country by Minister Rauf Hakeem, the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) Organisation today charged that the contents of the report were false and the Minister should immediately rectify his actions.

“Justice Minister Rauf Hakeem has mentioned that there is no religious freedom in Sri Lanka in his report submitted to the UNHRC. Allegations in this report are baseless and traitorous. The way these allegations have been made is not ethical. The Minister should rectify his actions unless we too can complain to the UNHRC,” BBS General Secretary Ven. Galagodaatte Gnanasara Thera told a news conference.

The Thera said the 50-page-long report had also accused the BBS of creating religious disharmony in the country and harassing minorities.

“We completely reject the allegation made against the BBS. We challenge the Minister to prove if we had harassed any minority. We raised our voice against Buddhists consuming Halaal-certified foods; we had nothing against Muslims or Muslims consuming Halaal-certified foods,’ he said.

The Thera also said Minister Hakeem had complained about a book written by Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka on Al Qaeda, using the freedom of expression against the country.

The Thera said Sri Lanka was one of the few courtiers that had religious harmony and said Minister Hakeem’s report would tarnish the image of Sri Lanka in the eyes of the world. (Lahiru Pothmulla)

The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) on Thursday (13), called former President, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, an enemy of Buddhism and demanded to know the funding source of a report on Sri Lanka.

They said, if the present regime does not take measures to control the growing scourge of prayer centres operated from homes, the BBS would turn into an unofficial armed force to clear the country of this menace.

Dilantha Withanage, Executive Committee Member and Programme Coordinator, BBS, said: “The report of the South Asian Policy and Research Institute (SAPRI) tries to nationally posit and internationally establish, Sinhalese Buddhists as inhumane people. The Chairperson of SAPRI, Kumaratunga, is living off the people, using their money, by maintaining an office and vehicles.”He demanded to know: “From where has this new found love for Sri Lanka come, and why has it come in the form of religious reconciliation? Where was she when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), bulldozed Buddhist sites in the North, or when the Dalada Maligawa was bombed? Why hasn’t she reported the destruction of Buddhist museums in the Maldives and the slaughter of Buddhists in Bangladesh?”

He further stated: “Kumaratunga is trying to destroy Buddhism by isolating the Sinhalese Buddhists internationally, in order to obtain overseas funds to please certain parties. We challenge her to prove who funded the report by this non-governmental organization (NGO), how much was granted and how the money was utilized, in addition to the research methodology that was used. Her one-sided report has consequences and repercussions for our country, and in fact when she met Opposition Leader, Ranil Wickremasinghe, he too had told her that the report would have been better if the injustices committed on Buddhism, Buddhists and Buddhist monks were also included. This is all a conspiracy.”

Chamila Liyanage, Chief Coordinator, Education and Research Unit of the BBS, said: “Kumaratunga is an invalid figure who is trying to regain her social stature. Her report contains only alleged injustices meted out to Hindus, Catholics, Christians and Muslims. She, along with Dr. Kumar Rupesinghe, the Executive Director of the National Peace Council (NPC), Jehan Perera and the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) which is always breathing life in to the slain LTTE Leader, Prabhakaran’s mummy, the Berghof Foundation and other NGOs are of the same ilk, cut from the same cloth. They along with the Scandinavian puppet politicians espouse a diluted form of multi-faith, multi-culturalism and separatist politics. Constitutionally, Buddhism is the primary religion of the country.”

The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) yesterday condemned the intervention of Western Province Governor, Alavi Mowlana, in an issue regarding racial segregation, which ensued at the Janadhipathi Balika Vidyalaya recently.The controversy surrounds the recent incident where two Muslim students had been asked to remove their hijab and long pants, which are generally worn in addition to the uniform to school. The students had also allegedly been requested to kneel down before the principal.

The BBS indicated that the school had been a predominantly Buddhist school with Buddhist culture advocated as part of their teachings and hence it had been unfair on the part of the Muslim students to be attired in a manner different to the uniform worn by the rest of the school. BBS Programme Coordinator, Dr. Dilanthe Withanage, said, “This is an ordinary issue which had beendealt in a proper manner. The school was functioning upon Buddhist norms and students must adhere to the uniform in the school. We condemn the actions of the Governor in making this a religious issue.”

He continued, “There are 30 Muslim students in the school. There is no reason to have Muslim students in a Buddhist school, if they cannot abide by the school’s rules in the first place. However, of the 30 students, only two had been reprimanded, which shows that there was no religious sentiment wrongly advocated.”

Coordinating Secretary to the Governor, Najib Mowlana, explaining what took place, said, “We have had discussions to resolve the dispute with Western Province Director of Education, N.K. Illeyapperuma, Coordinating Secretary for Education to the Governor, Premachandra, and Mayor of Kotte, Janaka Ranawaka, and there had been no problem thereafter.”
“The principal had informed us that she had no religious sentiment in her conduct; the maltreatment had merely been directed towards the two children. The other students have not had much problem remaining in the school, but the two students have requested to be transferred and we are still in the process of analyzing the request.”

The Coordinating Secretary to the Governor informed Ceylon Today that the Governor is hospitalized and thus unable to comment. However, negotiations in regard to the issue would continue following his recovery.

Hardline Buddhist monks are targeting Muslims and Christians in Sri Lanka, where the civil war’s end has spurred a new wave of sectarianism bent on preserving Sinhalese culture. Since the conflict ended nearly five years ago, groups like Bodu Bala Sena have emerged as Sri Lanka’s self-appointed watchdogs of Buddhism. At 19:30 GMT, we discuss the violent side of Sri Lankan Buddhism.

On this episode, The Stream speaks to:

Dilanthe Withanage @dilanthe
Executive member and coordinator of the Bodu Bala Sana
bodubalasena.org

Mahinda Deegalle @mdeegalle
Reader in Study of Religions, Philosophies and Ethics at Bath Spa University
applications.bathspa.ac.uk

Palitha Kohona
Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations
slmission.com

Nationalist Buddhist groups say their mission is to “save the Sinhala race,” which makes up 74 per cent of the population. In recent years, nationalist groups such as Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) and Ravana Balaya have campaigned against religious minorities in Sri Lanka. They say they are non-violent, yet minorities accuse them of attacking mosques and Christian churches and prayer centres, as seen in the video below:

Buddhists mobs attacked nearly 20 mosques last year, according to Sri Lanka’s capital police. And more than three Christian places of worship were reportedly targeted this year. BBS denies involvement in the sectarian violence.

However, the group has warned of the spread of Islam and actively leads a campaign against the Muslim system of certifying halal foods and other goods. According to the BBS, they are not against halal products, but believe halal food should not be imposed on Sri Lankans of other religions. […]

The photo of the two monks above looks innocent enough. One of the men presents the other with a birthday present. It’s difficult to make out, but it looks to be some sort of gold figurine on a red velvet base. In fact, the photo would be totally uninteresting if it weren’t for the fact that these men are two of the world’s most important leaders of a dangerously radical brand of Buddhism.

The man on the right is Burma’s Ashin Wirathu. Known as the “bin Laden of Buddhism,” Wirathu leads the country’s 969 movement, which sees the country’s Muslim minority as an existential threat to its majority Buddhist population. The man on the left is Sri Lanka’s Galagoda Atte Gnanasara, the face of hardline Buddhism in the island nation.

Together, these two robed radicals anchor a powerful, violent, and new political force in Asia.

Over the course of the past three years, Burma’s former military government has embarked on a series of significant democratic reforms, but the departure from military dictatorship has also coincided with a flowering of a radical Buddhist nationalism that has crystallized in communal violence against the country’s Muslim minority. Wirathu has emerged as the public face of that movement, and the monk’s anti-Muslim rhetoric has helped incite attacks on Burma’s Muslim civilians — particularly its ethnic Rohingya — over the past 18 months. Last year, TIME magazine featured Wirathu on its cover under the headline “The Face of Buddhist Terror.”

But Wirathu is not alone in setting out a dangerous new vision for a religion grounded in the principle of non-violence. Gnanasara, who serves as a spiritual leader of sorts, is using his position to stoke the same type of religious bigotry in his home country of Sri Lanka.

Gnanasara is the co-founder of Sri Lanka’s Bodu Bala Sena, or Buddhist Power Force. The group, which was formed in 2012, agitates against what it sees as the threat Islam poses to Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese-Buddhist identity. As in Burma, Muslims in Sri Lanka are a small, largely peaceful minority. But that hasn’t stopped Gnanasara’s group from stoking fears of extremism.

According to a January report by the Associated Press, Buddhists in Sri Lanka have “attacked dozens of mosques and called for boycotts of Muslim-owned businesses and bans on headscarves and halal foods. At boisterous rallies, monks claim Muslims are out to recruit children, marry Buddhist women and divide the country.”

In August 2013, a group of Buddhist monks attacked a mosque in the capital of Colombo. The mob struck the mosque while congregants were engaged in prayer, breaking windows and damaging the building. Both Muslims and Sinhalese Buddhists were injured in the clashes that followed the incident.

The vilification of Muslims is not simply base intolerance; it also serves a convenient purpose for Sri Lanka’s largely Sinhalese powerbrokers. Five years after the end of the civil war with the Tamil Tigers, President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s political machine needs a new scapegoat for the everyday frustrations of their constituents, many of whom have grown unhappy with the government’s heavy-handed security policies and its failure to deliver robust growth. The government seems to be “tacitly encouraging, and in some cases directly supporting, the anti-Muslim campaigns led by militant and often violent Buddhist organizations,” according to a November 2013 Crisis Group report.

If Gnanasara is indeed in Burma — the photos have emerged only on minor Sri Lankan news outlets — his visit comes at a sadly appropriate time. The Burmese government is considering a law governing inter-faith marriage law that would “protect” Buddhist women by requiring their non-Buddhist suitors to convert and gain permission from the women’s parents if they wish to wed. Wirathu has campaigned aggressively in support of the law.

Despite pushback from local activists, public officials in both Sri Lanka and Burma have been loath to challenge Wirathu and Gnanasara. It seems these two men, and the radical brand of Buddhism they represent, are here to stay.